Anja Konig

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The Printer Is Out of Paper or Misfed

The mattress is lumpy, the pillows are damp.
Assignments are due to the teachers too soon.
The heating is spotty, fuzzy the lamps.
And the worst of it all: we must write a pantoum.

Assignments are due to the teachers too soon.
We fidget we smoke we palaver we wait.
And the worst of it all: we must write a pantoum.
But what we do best is procrastinate.

We fidget we smoke we palaver we wait.
We drink cups of tea and stir them with spoons.
And what we do best is procrastinate.
We go up to nap or to read in the room.

We drink cups of tea and stir them with spoons.
If we don’t start the poem we’ll turn it in late.
We go up to nap or to read in the room.
We open the laptop, defragment and wait.

If we don’t start the poem, we’ll turn it in late.
We are suddenly sleepy, it’s already noon.
We look at the laptop, defragment and wait.
We sit down on the bed, we will get up soon.

We are suddenly sleepy, it’s already noon.
The heating is spotty, fuzzy the lamp.
We lie down on the bed, we will get up soon,
the mattress is lumpy, the pillows are damp.

Anja Konig grew up in the German language and now writes in English. Her pamphlet Species was published by Bad Betty Press in the UK. She tweets @citytwarbler.